Ozu in Houston

02009-08-09 | Photos | 4 comments

The last photo in the previous series inspired a little homage to Ozu, a Japanese film director, known for his low angles – he had to customize tripods to fit his needs. I first discovered Ozu through the documentary Tokyo-Ga, which I found on Netflix. Tokyo-Ga is a 1985 documentary film directed by Wim Wenders about filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. I used a fully open aperture of 1.4 on a 46mm lens (adjusted for sensor size), which caused a sheet of focus across the image. For me these images have something magical about them. Blurry foreground, then a narrow field of focus followed by a blurry background. Like the past (blurry), the present (sharp) and the future (blurry). Or like a thought lighting up a field of attention. I set the camera on the ground, guessed at the focus and captured the image, then viewed it on the camera’s screen. Sometimes I had to repeat the process a few times until the image was composed to my liking.





4 Comments

  1. yumi

    I enjoyed these very much.

    Reply
  2. Carol

    I wondered about that low angle…like you were sitting in the street. Interesting angle as from a very small child or a down-and-out drunk.
    And an interesting explanation. I see it now.

    Reply
  3. Brenda

    What an amazing knowledge of life you share. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. Brenda

    Viewing life from ground level is eye opening. When we only choose to gaze, in a window view above our existence; we set our life far above a vast beginning. Thanks so much for the photos you take of life.

    Reply

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